Main Events, NBC Sports Announce ‘Future Stars’ Series

By Jake Donovan

This weekend’s card at Mohegan Sun already held special meaning to Kathy Duva and Main Events. The show – which is headlined by a light heavyweight clash between unbeaten Sergei Kovalev and former champ Gabriel Campillo - celebrates the one-year anniversary of the launching of the NBC Sports Network Fight Night series.

Within the celebrating came more reason to cheer, as an announcement was made for a new series on the horizon titled ‘Future Stars.’ The series will air on NBC Sports Network as well as various Comcast Sports networks.

“Today there is another announcement,” Duva proudly revealed during Thursday’s press conference at the Mohegan Sun. “We are announcing the formation of another boxing series. “Future Stars” That program is going to consist of several of the undercard fights. The fights will be taped and then packaged to be showcased on NBC Sports and the Comcast Sports networks on a later date.”

The three undercard bouts to be taped for the series will be: Jarrell Miller (4-0, 4KO) vs. Joey Dawejko in a scheduled four-round heavyweight contest; Joseph Perez (10-1, 3KO) vs. Jason Sosa (7-1-3, 3KO) in a scheduled six-round super featherweight scrap; and a scheduled eight round bout between Marcus Upshaw (14-8-2, 6KO) and Vladine Biosse (14-1-1, 7KO) in the final bout prior to the start of the NBC Sports Network Fight Night broadcast.

Duva believes the series can only contribute to the current replenishment the sport is experiencing.

“This fight marks the one year anniversary of the NBC Fight Night series. This will be the 8th show. We’ve found that millions of people are watching these broadcasts. With our show on NBC (Tomasz Adamek’s controversial rematch win over Steve Cunningham), four million people watched. The sport is enjoying… a burst in popularity.

“With NBC and NBC Sports we are reaching a wider audience than ever before.”

This weekend’s telecast features a live doubleheader, which also includes a middleweight crossroads bout between Curtis Stevens (22-3, 16KO) and Elvin Ayala (26-5-2, 12KO). The telecast airs live on NBC Sports Network at 9PM ET and will be replayed at 1AM ET.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox